Center for Lifecourse Epidemiology and Aging Research (CLEAR): Improving Health, Enhancing Function

CONGRATULATIONS! Excellence in Teaching Award goes to Center Core Faculty member Sung Kyun Park, ScD, MPH

Center Core Faculty member Sung Kyun Park, ScD, MPH, professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences, was named the 2026 recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award acclaimed for his strong teaching and mentoring skills. Over the course of his fifteen year career as a faculty member at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, he has developed and led impactful coursework, mentored students in and out of the classroom, and been committed to the continuous improvement of education across the school.

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PODCAST: Center Director Carrie A. Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD, MPH on the ICPSR NACDA podcast (AUDIO 🔊)

“What we see differently during midlife is that the pattern of physical functioning limitations is really quite dynamic. We see that over that midlife phase, people are as likely to decline in their physical functioning as they are to improve. And what this really suggests to us is that midlife is a really important life stage to think about improving health, because it is dynamic, it is malleable.”

» Listen to the ICPSR NACDA podcast

In the news: “The invisible workforce behind Michigan’s $125B agriculture industry” on MLive

Alexis Handal, PhD, MPH and Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos, PhD, MPH, MA

“They’re a very, very invisible population,” said Alexis Handal, a University of Michigan professor who co-leads the Michigan Farmworker Project alongside researcher Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos.

» Read more on MLive

IN THE NEWS: “Adults face lasting effects months after RSV hospitalization” with Center Core Faculty Aleda (Allie) M. Leis, PhD, MS

“Since there are limited treatment options for RSV, it's important to understand the potential long-term outcomes of severe RSV infection so that clinicians and public health workers can identify who might benefit from additional follow-up after their illness. This information can also help inform efforts to prevent disease or reduce severity, such as through vaccination, which is now available to certain groups of adults.”

VIDEO: “One pioneering study provides decades worth of data on menopause” featuring the SWAN Study on Spectrum News

“If you open an endocrinology textbook and look at what hormone patterns look like across the menopause transition, that is data from SWAN ... SWAN is by far the largest, longest, most in-depth study of women traversing the midlife and menopausal transition and then following them into late adulthood” — Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez, PhD, MPH (Associate Chair for Faculty Affairs, Epidemiology and Director, Center for Lifecourse Epidemiology and Aging Research)

» See more on Spectrum News

IN THE NEWS: “Where Menopause Hits Hardest” with comments from Center Core Faculty Siobán D. Harlow, PhD

“Cardiovascular comorbidities such as high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes may also cause hot flashes way before a woman’s transition begins. It is likely that underlying cardiovascular conditions may increase risk of hot flashes, and frequent, high intensity hot flashes experienced for a long duration may increase cardiovascular risk.”

» Read more on HealthCentral.com

CONGRATULATIONS! Center Doctoral Student Jillian Baker, MPH, BA receives award from the A. Regula Herzog Young Investigators Fund

Jillian Baker is the 2025-2026 recipient of the A. Regula Herzog Young Investigators Fund, an award designed to support research and training for junior researchers on women and aging. The Herzog Fund is part of the ISR Next Generation Awards from the Institute for Social Research. Jillian is excited to further her research on how intimate partner violence influences aging trajectories for women.

News

Publications

Project: SWAN Multi-Pollutant Study

The SWAN Multi-Pollutant Study (MPS) was initiated in 2016 to examine health effects of multiple environmental chemical exposures, including perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), metals, phenols, phthalates, and organophosphate pesticide among midlife women. Funded through two R01 grants by the National Institute of Environmental Health and Sciences (NIEHS), the SWAN MPS specifically investigates 1) obesity, type-2 diabetes and related metabolic endpoints; and 2) reproductive health including sex steroid hormones, age at menopause and ovarian aging).

Project: Michigan Bone Health & Metabolism Study (MBHMS Bone Strength)

The 36-year MBHMS follows the daughters of participants in the historic Tecumseh Community Health Study to evaluate the impact of aging-related processes including menopause and the secular increase in obesity on the development and progression of musculoskeletal disease and declines in physical functioning. This study addresses a significant gap in scientific knowledge that impedes our ability to optimize fracture prevention strategies. If our hypotheses prove correct, baseline external bone size may be used as an additional parameter to identify women most likely to lose bone strength rapidly during the MT and who might benefit from early intervention.

Project: Michigan Lupus Epidemiology and Surveillance Program Longitudinal Cohort (MiLES)

Initiated in 2013, MiLES is a newly established cohort study which creates and maintains the MiLES Longitudinal Cohort & Biobank, including lupus cases from the southeast Michigan surveillance registry as well as population-based controls.